In previous versions of Windows, I have been able to "drag and drop" the My Computer icon to the top or sides of the desktop and convert it into a "deskband" toolbar. The deskband could be set "always on top" or "autohide". I found this a very convenient way to have instant access to all my drives with NO clicks.

Windows 7 does not appear to have this functionality. Apparently, Microsoft decided that it's new gee-whiz "AeroSnap" feature -- used to maximize a window by dragging it to the top of the screen or docking a window by dragging it to one side -- was more valuable than the ability to create any type of deskband of the user's choice. No matter that there were already multiple ways to maximize a window and simple methods to dock two windows side-by-side when needed for an A-B comparison, but there is now no obvious method to recreate instant access to all drives (a function used far more frequently).

Is there any way to recreate a My Computer toolbar at the top of the Desktop in Windows 7? I've looked at various third party "dock" programs, but none provide the same convenience as the deskband. They do not provide the same right click context menus and cannot automatically identify a new USB or external drive as soon as it is plugged in.

The closest I can get ot it without investigating is to right click on the taskbar at the bottom, hover over TOOLBARS and then click on new toolbar, when the browse box comes up you cand click on My Computer and this will put a My Computer link at the bottom on the right hand side close to the date and time - if you hover over / click on the double chevron you then get all your drives popup in a mini menu.

I would be certain tho that there would be some way of doing it, as I have already seen the quick launch restored to grace on some win7 systems - and it is quite quick and easy

Rgds

Paul C

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I started using W7 about a month ago, and I tried to recreate my XP environment as best I could. In XP, I used a toolbar such as you describe to launch almost everything: commonly used program shortcuts, shorcuts to folders containing less commonly used program shortcuts, and shortcuts to other folders containing document shortcuts. The toolbar was docked on the right side of the desktop, autohide, always on top. I really wanted to recreate that in W7, but no luck. Lots of time spent researching this, and found that it seemingly cannot be done. You can create all the toolbars you want, but they all go on the taskbar, and they cannot be dragged from the taskbar to create that "deskband" you describe, or even a floating toolbar.

After casting about for a way to launch programs and documents that I could live with, I ended up creating my toolbar as in XP, and leaving it on the taskbar. I should mention that my taskbar is vertical along the left of the desktop, autohide, always on top. Taskbar buttons are set to "combine when taskbar is full" so they show the program or document description on the taskbar button. Since it auto hides, the taskbar can be very wide, wide enough in most cases to show the entire description.

After creating the new toolbar, I dragged it down to the bottom of the taskbar. The toolbar is configured with "show title". I dragged it down as far as it would go, so all that displays is the toolbar's title, and a chevron. Since the taskbar is vertical, the toolbar title takes very little veritcal space, if it it were horizontal, the toolbar could only be dragged to the right up to the point where the title would be hidden, so a toolbar created from a folder with a long name would take more space. I have it "show title" because if it didn't then I would see the top of first row of icons in the toolbar even with the toolbar dragged down as far as it will go; when the title is displayed, these are shoved down far enought so they are out of sight, which seems more tidy to me. When I was finished, I locked the taskbar which protects it from indvertant change, but also hide the rows of dots that are used to drag the toolbar, which also seems more tidy.

Now when I want to lauch a program, I click on the chevron at the bottom of the taskbar, and the all the items on the toolbar pop up momentarily so one of them can be clicked.

If you'd like to try this, right click on the taskbar, click Toolbars from the resultant context menu, then New Toolbar to display the New Toolbar - Choose a Folder window.

In that window, click Computer in the left pane, then click the Select Folder button to create the toolbar. Drag the new toolbar to the extreme right of the taskbar (or bottom, if you use a vertical taskbar). You should be able to drag it far enough that all you see is the word Computer, and a chevron. Lock the taskbar if you want.

Click the chevron to get a list of your drives. One click vs no clicks, not too horrible.

I'm an old dog and resistant to change. A young whippersnapper pointed out that he too initially tried to "Make 7 into XP" and finally decided to work with it instead of fighting it. He pins programs to the taskbar, then pins documents to those program's jump lists. I've started doing some of that, and I'm starting to get used to it.

Mike
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The closest you can come to what you want is to put the Desktop toolbar on your Taskbar. If you have the Taskbar three units high, then you'll have Libraries, your user folder, and Computer displayed. You can also click on the >> to get a list of everything.